Product Description

In 1950, the terms "American theatre" and "Broadway" were virtually synonymous. As the new century begins, Broadway is only a small part of a vital, creative, and varied national theatrical scene. This lively and authoritative book combines a history of the many changes - the spread of regional and non-profit theatres, the rise of Off-Broadway and other alternatives, the decline of Broadway - with an analysis of their implications and the problems they have brought, a look at new audiences, the causes of failure, and the unexpected complications of success. Hardcover.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1365834 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 280 pages

Amazon.com Review
Once upon a time in American theater, there was Broadway and there was the road. New shows might try out for Broadway on the road--theaters in cities such as New Haven, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and Broadway hits might tour on the road for years. But until the 1960s, Broadway was more or less the center of the theatrical universe. As this new book chronicles, however, things have changed. Broadway's output--particularly of non-musical dramas and comedies--has decreased, but the appetite for them has increased, leading to the mass decentralization of American theater in less than 35 years. New Broadways chronicles this trend shaped by regional theaters like the Alley Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, and others, and shows how new, regional playwriting voices are being cultivated.

From Library Journal
In revising and updating his first edition (LJ 8/82), Berkowitz has made even better the best survey of American professional theater since 1950. After an admirably concise chapter on the theater and drama of the first half of the century, he describes the changes within the Off-Broadway, Off-Off, regional, and other alternative movements and finally Broadway itself, from 1950 through early 1997. Discussions of individual companies and their founders, major dramatists, acting styles, the rise and fall in foundation and government support, the shift of the commercial (Broadway) theater's role from exporter to importer of plays and musicals, changes in production, and the increasingly blurred distinctions between commercial and nonprofit theater are skillfully interwoven within an essentially but not oppressively chronological scheme. Best of all, the author does not view nonprofit and commercial theater simplistically as good guys vs. bad guys. This is an excellent introduction for general readers, and experts will find provocative many of Berkowitz's opinions and the quotations from his recent interviews with dozens of theater professionals. Strongly recommended for all public and academic libraries. (Illustrations and index not seen.)?Robert W. Melton, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Oustanding history of theatre in America
I've been working in theatre for most of my life, but this book taught me so many new things about the history of theatre in America -- mostly a history of regional theatre. Not only is it fascinating reading, it's also quite inspiring for theatre directors and producers.